Railway vehicle truck



Sept. 18, 1945. F. .L. ALBEN ETAL 2,384,785

RAILWAY VEHICLE TRUCK Original Filed May 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS WITNESSES:

Frank L. A/ben A mam E Lon er Sept. 18, 1945. F. L. ALBEN ETAL RAILWAY VEHICLE TRUCK Original Filed May 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS flan/r L. A/ben A 5 mar E longer WITNESSES:

Patented Sept. 18, 1945 RAILWAY VEHICLE TRUCK Frank L. Alben and Bernard F. Langer, Pittsburgh,.Pa., assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application May 14, 1941, Serial No. 393,328. Divided and this application October 22, 1943, Serial No. 507,260

4 Claims.

This application is a division of our copending application Serial No. 393,328, filed May 14, 1941.

Our invention relates, generally, to truck structures and, more particularly, to trucks for railway vehicles.

An object of our invention, generally stated, is to provide a railway vehicle truck structure which shall be simple and efficient in operation and which may be economically manufactured.

A more specific object of our invention is to improve the riding qualities of a railway vehicle truck.

Another object of our invention is to reduce the parts of a'vehicle'truc'k which are subject to wear. I A further object of our invention is to provide in. avehicle truck for a largeamount of vertical and lateral flexibility between the car'and the axles.

Still another object of our invention is to provide suitable damping in a vehicle truck in parallel with the vertical and lateral flexibilities thereof to impede free oscillations of the car body supported by the truck.

A still further object of our invention is to prevent nosing oscillations of a vehicle truck during operation of the vehicle.

Another object of ourinvention is to provide sufficient lateral stability in a vehicle truck that the car body will not lean at an uncomfortable angle when rounding a curve at high speed.

Other objects of our invention will be explained fully hereinafter or will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

According to one embodiment of our invention, each journal box'of a four-wheel truck is mounted rigidly in its own 'subframe, which is hinged to the main truck frame at two points and the small motion at these hinge points is taken by the deflection of rubber bushings. The weight of the car body is supported on loading pads spaced a sufficient distance apart t introduce frictional restraint to nosing oscillations. The vertical spring system comprises flexibl helical springs between the upper and lower portions of the bolster and comparatively stiff helical springs between the axle bearings and the main truck frame. A ride stabilizer is provided to prevent excessive leaning of the car body on curves. Lateral flexibility of the truck is obtained by supporting the bolster in the main truck frame by means of vertical swing hangers, and both lateral and vertical motions are damped by shock absorbers.

For a fuller understanding of the nature. and objects of our invention, reference may be had to the followin detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in

which: i

Figure 1 is a view, in plan,-of a railway vehicle truck embodying our invention, certain portions being broken away for clearness;

Fig. 2 is a view, partially in section and partially in end elevation, taken along the line IL-II of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a view, in side elevation of thetruck structure shown in Fig. 1, a portion of the main frame being broken away. 7

Referringto the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, the vehicle truck structure shown therein comprises a main frame in which issupported by axles II and wheels I! of the conventional type. The axles ll run in self-aligning antifriction bearings which are disposed in journal boxes 13. Each journal box I3 is mounted rigidly in its own subframe [4 which is hinged tothe main frame It at two points l5 and I6, therebypermittin a limited amountof vertical movement of the journal box-relative to the mainframe. Th small motion at the-hinge points 15 and 16 may be taken by the deflection of rubber bushings 20, thereby eliminating Wear. r

In order to restrain nosing oscillations ,of the truck, the weight of the car body 9, only aportiOn of which is shown in Fig. 2, is supported on a pair of loading pads "which are disposed on opposite sides of a center pin l8 and spaced a considerable distance from the center pin. Loading pads Ila are provided on the car body 9 and rest on the pads I1 on the truck. The loading pads 11 and the center pin I 8 are carried by a swing bolster 19 which is divided into an upper section 2| and a lower section 22, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. Since the weight of the car body is supported by the loading pads l1 and not by the center pin I8, as is the usual arrangement, frictional restraint to nosing oscillations'is intro-'- duced by means of the loading pads l1. The center pin I8 transmits horizontal and tractional forces only and does not oppose rotation about any axis. I

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the vertical spring system comprises flexible helicalsprings 23 and 24, disposed between the upper and lower portions of the bolster l9, and comparatively stiff helical springs 25, disposed between the journal boxes I3 and the main frame l0. As explained hereinbefore, the journal boxes l3 are rigidly mounted in the subframes M which are hinged to the main frame I0. As shown in Fig. 2, the springs 24 may leaning of the car body on curves resulting from the use of flexible springs, a ride stabilizer bar 21 is provided. As shown inFig. 1, the stabilizer bar 21 is rotatably mounted in bearings 28 on the main frame In and is connected to the upper part 2| of the bolster l9 by arms 29, one of which is at each end of the bar 21. The arms 23 are rotatably connected to the bolster I9 by means of pins 3| rotatably mounted in the upper section 2] of the -bolster underneath the loading pads ll. Thus, it will be seen that, for vertical "motion of the truck relative to "the car the bar '21 rotates freely in its bearings. However, for rolling or tilting motion of-th'e car body the bar 21 must twist; In this manner excessive rolling or tilting of the tar body-on curves is prevented. 's

The lateral flexibility of the truck is obtained bysuppo'rti'ng the bolster 9' in the main frame by'means'of long vertical swing hangers3'2, as shown best in Fig. 2.' The upper end of each hanger 32 is rotatably connected to the main frame I by means of abolt'33 and the lower end is rotatably connected to the lower section '22 of the bolster by means of=abolt 34.

Asshown, the hangers 32 are of the shackle type, that is, they are in one piece and long in the "longitudinal direction inorder that they can transmit longitudinal forces from the bolster to the main frame. "In this manner the need for a sliding surface to transmit tr-aetive forces to and from the truck frame is' eliminated. Furthermore, by mounting the swing hangers vertic'a'lly, maximum lateralfiexibility is obtained. The lateral motions of the bolster are damped by shock absorbers 35 connected between the mainframe Ill and t-he lower section '22 of the bolsten'a'sshown in FigIl The main framed-11 is also provided with a pluralityof arms 36 for mounting a suitable brake rigging on "the "truck. Since the brake rigging forms no-part of the present invention, it'ha'sbeen omitted from the drawings in order to avoid unduly complicating the structure illustrated.

From-the foregoing description, it is apparent tance from each other, thus affording more frictional resistance to truck swiveling than does "the conventional center pin. A lateral stabilizer,

which resists the objectionable tilting produced by centrifugal force on curves is also provided. The present structure eliminates some parts of the conventional truck which ordinarily Wear in such a way as to impair the riding qualities of the truck. These parts are the journal boxes which usually slide up and down in perpendicular guides and which are replaced in the present structure by boxes rigidly mounted in auxiliary frames hinged to themain truck frame. Also,

the transmission of longitudinal forces from the swing bolster to the truck frame is accomplished by means of shackle type links which eliminate the need for direct contact between the swing bolster and the truck transom.

The combination of the soft springs, the lateral stabilizer and the swing links is of particular importance because no one or two of these fea tures could produce good riding qualities without the third. The soft springs alone providever- 'tioal and some lateral flexibility but allow tilting on curves. The ride stabilizer eliminates the objectionable tilting but also reduces the lateral flexibility. The swing links'pr-ovide lateral flexibility, Thus, if all three features are used, all the desirable results are obtained and the undesirable ones are eliminated;

Since numerous changes may be made in the above described construction, and different embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all the matter contained i'n the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall'be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We :claim as our invention:

1.33m a railway vehicle truck for supporting a car body, in combination, a truck frame, a swing bolster mounted in said frame, said bolster comprising an upper "section and a lower section, a center pin disposed in the lower section, loading pads disposed on the upper section on opposite sides of the center pin to support the car'body, helical springs interposed between said sections, and swing hangers for connecting the lower section to the truck frame.

In a railway vehicle truck for supporting a car body, in "combination, a truck frame; a swing bolster mounted in said frame, said bolster-comprising an upper sectionand a lower section,'a center pin disposed in the lowersection, loading pads disposed On the upper section on opposite sides of the center'pin to support the car body, helical springs interposed between said sections, and vertically disposed-swing hangers for connecting the lower section to the truck frame, said swing hangers being disposed to permit lateral movement of the bolster in the truck frame and prevent longitudinal movement ofthe bolster with respect to the truck frame.

. 3. In a railway vehicle truck for supporting a car body, in combination, a truck frame, a swing bolster mounted in said frame, said bolster comprising an upper section and a lower section, a center pin disposed in the lower section, loading pads disposed on the upper section on opposite sides :of the center pin to support the car body, helical springs interposed between said sections, and vertically disposed swing hangers for connecting the lower section of the truck frame, said swing hangers being disposed to permit lateral movement of the bolster in the truck frame and prevent longitudinal movement of the bolster with "respect to the truck frame, and shock absorbers connected between the bolster and the truck frame to damp the lateral movement of the bolster.

helical springs interposed between said sections,

and shock absorbers connected between the upper and the lower sections to damp the vertical movement of the upper section.

FRANK L. ALBEN. BERNARD F. LANGER. 

